Clark Meets Tomorrow with Leaders of Vienna Jewish Community on Urgent Problems

October 11, 1945

Vienna (Oct. 10)

A delegation of the Jewish community of Vienna will meet on Friday with Gen. Mark Clark, U.S. representative on the Allied Control Commission for Austria, and will present to him a memorandum outlining the major problems faced by the surviving Jews in Austria.

The delegation was named by the executive of the Jewish Community Council, following receipt of an invitation from Gen. Clark, who said that he would like to obtain a clear picture of the situation and needs of the surviving Jews. The delegation will be headed by David Brill, head of the community council, and will include Bernhard Braver and Akim Lewit, two Zionist leaders.

The memorandum, which was completed today by the Jewish leaders, gives a brief review of the seven years of Nazi terrorism against Austrian Jewry, and describes at length the tragic situation of the Jews returning from concentration camps who are unable to secure any assistance. The memorandum points out that:

1. Anti-Semitism is still rampant in Austria, and that this is due, to a great extent, to the fact that former Nazi officials still retain their posts.

2. Former Nazis are in control of allecation of apartments and of granting licenses for traders and artisans, and are making it difficult for Jews to resume a normal existence.

3. The Vienna Jewish Community, which owned 200 buildings which the Nazis confiscated, is unable to secure the return of these buildings, which could be used to house needy Jews.

4. About 100 motion-picture houses which the Nazis took from Jewish owners, and which are now under municipal management, should be returned to the former owners, or transferred, for management, to the Jewish Community.

5. There is still no law providing compensation for Jewish property seized by the Nazis. The Jewish Community considers itself the representative body not only of the surviving Jews, but of all 200,000 Jews who lived in Austria prior to the Nazi regime. It, therefore, considers itself entitled to manage the property and bankdeposits of Jews whose whereabouts have not yet been established.

When meeting with Gen. Clark, the delegation will stress the fact that the surviving Jews in Austria, suffering from the effects of years of persecution and starvation, are in urgent need of food and clothing, and must be provided with dwellings for the winter. This aid, the Jewish leaders think, must come immediately from Allied military quarters, otherwise many Jews who survived Nazi terrorism will perish during the winter from hunger and cold.